NGO unveils alleged role of Gus Dur in Rp 35b Bulog scam

JAKARTA (JP): Government Watch (Gowa), a non-governmental organization that first disclosed the controversial Rp 35 billion scam at the State Logistics Agency (Bulog), revealed on Friday the alleged role of President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid in the scandal.

Gowa coordinator Farid Faqih told a news conference that Abdurrahman was allegedly involved in the scam in which billions of rupiah were taken from Bulog's employee foundation Yanatera. Farid alleged that Gowa had discovered that the President had once asked Yusuf Kalla, the then minister of industry and trade, how to disburse Bulog money.

Gowa charged that the President intended to obtain the Rp 35 billion from Bulog while refusing to issue an official guarantee for the money.

"It's weird that the President did not want to issue a decree if he had good intentions concerning the money," he added.

During the news briefing, Gowa also pointed a finger at Minister of Foreign Affairs Alwi Shihab, saying that he knew about the scandal.

"We are certain that he (Alwi) asked Yusuf about the money. The conversation occurred when Yusuf was on his way home (to the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar) from his office here," Farid said.

Yusuf left his post at the request of Gus Dur on April 24.

According to Farid, the money may not have gone to Alwi's bank account, but the foreign minister knew about the plan to disburse money belonging to Bulog from the very beginning.

He gave no further explanation.

The President has insisted he knows nothing about the Rp 35 billion from Bulog and claims that Suwondo, the missing key suspect in the case, previously worked for former president Soeharto.

Minister Alwi said recently that he was as clean as a whistle and has denied any involvement in the scam.

He said last week that certain parties were conspiring to use the Bulog scandal to discredit Gus Dur's inner circle, of which Alwi is a member.

"I see the big scenario here," he said.

Both Gus Dur and Alwi left on a two-week eight-nation tour on Wednesday.

Bondan Gunawan, another member of the inner circle, resigned from his powerful secretary of state post last Monday amid allegations that he too had benefited from the Bulog scandal.

Bulog deputy chairman Sapuan lost his job and is now in police custody as one of two prime suspects in the scandal. He allegedly ordered the disbursement of the Yanatera money in January, after failing to secure the approval from his chief, Kalla.

Sapuan and his lawyers said he disbursed the money after unrelenting pressure from Suwondo, Gus Dur's long-time masseur, and also believed that he was acting on the President's order based on their meeting in January at the palace.

The whereabouts of businessman Suwondo remains a mystery. His wife, Teti Nursetiati, has returned Rp 10 billion of the money to Yanatera via the police. She claims not to know where her husband is hiding.

Separately, Yusuf, who was in Jakarta on Friday, told journalists that the key to the case was Suwondo.

"The most important thing is to find Suwondo and find out who he really is," Yusuf said.

He said he was ready to be summoned by the House of Representatives, to which he would give statements similar to those he gave to Makassar Police investigators.

"It will be about the fact that Suwondo asked Sapuan for the money and I demanded a written request from the President, which they did not provide," Yusuf added.

Separately, Jakarta Police officers -- led by chief of detectives Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo -- inspected a 106-hectare plot of land in Sindangbarang district in Cianjur, West Java, said to have been bought by Suwondo from Hendrie Arioseno for Rp 15 billion. It is assumed he paid with part of the money embezzled from Yanatera.

The money allegedly went to the bank account of Suko Sudarso, Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's (PDI Perjuangan) research and development department deputy head, who has been named a witness in the case.

Initially, Alex told reporters, who accompanied the police team during the eight-hour trip from Jakarta to Cianjur, that he and his men were going to seize the land and hand over the certificates to the Bulog foundation.

Later at the site, he said they were there only to inspect the land and as yet did not know whether to seize it or not. Alex gave no clear reason.

Covering seven villages, the land, currently used by local farmers to plant, among other things, paddy and coconut trees, was said to be developed by Suwondo for an agrotourism site.

Local residents who sold their land said their property was bought in 1995 by businessman Hans Gunawan at Rp 225 per square meter. Hans, they said, sold the land to Hendrie.

"Rp 15 billion is too much. Even today, the price here is only between Rp 1,000 and Rp 1,500 per square meter," said Ijup Marzuki, 60, a local.

Yanatera representatives, who also accompanied the police to Cianjur, said the foundation would not accept the land in place of money.

"Yanatera wants its money back, not land, because (Bulog) workers do not need land. Suwondo borrowed money from us," Kamaruddin Jamal of Yanatera said.

In response, officer Alex said the police had nothing to do with the business side of the case.

"We're dealing only with the crime. That's it," he said.

By Thursday, Rp 15 billion of the Rp 35 billion fund embezzled from Yanatera had been returned to the foundation. The first Rp 10 billion was returned by Suwondo's wife, Teti Nursetiati, and the other Rp 5 billion by businessman Aris Junaedi, who claimed to have borrowed the money from Suwondo without knowing the initial source of the money. (dja/08/bsr)